Colorado
5-1
Colorado State
3-2
Buffs Outlast Rams In Double Overtime Thriller
November 29, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – Lexy Kresl had a triple-double, Jen Reese scored a career high 26 points and Lauren Huggins hit three 3-pointers in the two overtime periods as the Colorado Buffaloes defeated in-state rival Colorado State, 87-81, to claim the 2014 Omni Hotels Classic Saturday night at the Coors Events Center.
"That was a fun game," CU coach Linda Lappe said. "It was really well-played on both ends. Give CSU a ton of credit, Ryun (Williams) has done a tremendous job there. A few years ago we beat them by 40 points, that's not a fun game. It was a fun game for the fans, our players and the community."
Kresl earned MVP honors of the tournament for the second time in her career, finishing the game with 12 points and career-highs of 11 rebounds and 11 assists, needing every one of her career high 49 minutes to claim the program's fourth triple-double.
"A triple-double is fantastic," Lappe said. "Not many players have been able to get a triple-double in college. We needed that 11th assist and that 11th rebound, but what we needed most and what I'm most proud of is her composure and leadership. We needed her to lead the team, and I'm happy that she was able to contribute like she did tonight."
Huggins, the only Colorado native to see action in the game, was 4-of-7 from behind the arc, including two 3-pointers in the final minute of overtime to force a second overtime, and another triple in the second overtime that spurred a run that secured the game for the Buffs.
"She was the only Colorado kid on the whole floor, so for her, this game meant a lot," Lappe said. "We understand the rivalry, our seniors understand, I was really happy that she was able to contribute like she did tonight."
Reese's career high 26 points came off an 8-of-14 shooting performance form the field and 9-of-10 performance from the line. She added a career-high tying 14 rebounds.
"Jen really kept us going offensive for quite a long time," Lappe said. "We were having a tough time scoring at times and I felt like she really kept us in the game for a long time, when we weren't scoring, she helped us score."
The Buffs won the Omni Hotels Classic for the sixth straight season and 18th time in program history. CU also extended its win streak over the Rams to five straight games, dating back to 2009 and now leads the all-time series 35-11.
Haley Smith had two jumpers in the first two minutes of the game as the Buffs took a 6-5 lead early. Back-to-back jumpers from the Rams' Emille Hessedal and another from Ellen Nystrom then gave CSU a 6-0 run to take an 11-6 lead five minutes into the contest.
Reese then went to work, scoring seven of her nine first half points over a five-and-a-half minute span, the last three of which helped spur a 10-2 run as the Buffs took a 20-19 lead with just over 5 minutes remaining in the half.
Elin Gustavsson then caught fire for the Rams, scoring the last seven points for CSU in the first half and the first 15 of the second half, 22 straight points in the midst of a 24-9 run that helped the Rams open up a 43-29 lead, just five minutes into the second half.
"We had a post player on her to start the second half, but then we changed that," Lappe said. "She always seems to play well against us. Jasmine Sborov really shut her down for the rest of the game after we made the switch. Between Lauren, Jasmine and Haley, they did a good job on her."
After switching defensive philosophies, Gustavsson only had three points the remaining 25 minutes of the game and the Buffs went on a 24-8 run of their own to take a 53-51 lead with 8:03 left. After Gustavsson hit her final field goal of the game, CSU led 51-47 but back-to-back 3s from Reese and Sborov gave the Buffs that 53-51 lead.
"We talked about getting three stops in a row," Kresl said. "Just stringing those stops together to change their momentum. When you make those stops, it leads to offense, we just played smarter and took away their strengths."
In that 24-8 run, Reese, Kresl and Sborov combined for 23 of the 24 points as the Buffs caught fire from behind the arc. Reese had one 3 with Sborov and Kresl each nailing two from behind the arc in the run.
After those two big runs, the rest of the regulation played pretty evenly. Sborov had two big lay-ups, Smith hit a jumper and then Jamee Swan had a huge offensive rebound and layup to give the Buffs their biggest lead to that point at 61-57 with 4:26 remaining in regulation. Sborov was hustling for a rebound and was called for her fourth foul, then her reaction garnered a technical foul, which gave her personal foul No. 5 and her night was done prematurely at the 5:12 mark.
With Soborv off the court, the Rams bounced back and went on a 7-1 run to take a 64-62 lead. Gritt Ryder hit a 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining to tie the game at 62-62 and then after a timeout, Ellen Nystrom drove the lane and hit a layup with 50 seconds left.
The Buffs tuned the ball over and then called a timeout with 38 seconds left. After good full court pressure, the Rams Keyora Wharry caught a desperation pass at half court and was immediately fouled with 29.8 seconds left. She missed the front end of a one-and-one and then the Buffs called their final timeout with 24.9 remaining.
After good ball movement, the Buffs got the ball into Reese, and she was immediately fouled with 13.0 seconds left. She hit both of her free throws to tie the game at 64-64 and force overtime.
The Rams controlled most of the first overtime, opening up a five point lead at 71-66 with 2:11 left after Ryder drove left through the lane and threw up a shot that somehow went in. On the next CU possession, Reese was fouled and hit both free throws to match her career high at 24 points with 1:53 left.
The Buffs stopped the Rams twice in the next possession extended by an offensive rebound, and just before the shot clock ran out for a second time, Smith came away with a scrappy rebound and kicked it to Kresl near half court.
The shot clock, having not reset, went off and Kresl seemed to pause momentarily before kicking the ball to Huggins on the left side. She wasted no time and immediately launched a 23-footer that was nothing but net and tied the game at 71-71.
On the defensive end, Huggins committed a good, hard foul going for a block, not giving anything up easily. Nystrom hit both free throws for the Rams with 24.6 seconds left, now up 73-71. On the next possession, Reese missed a layup and fouled Gustavsson going for the ball with just 11.4 seconds left. Gustavsson missed the first, made the second to give the Rams a 74-71 lead.
The Buffs called timeout with 8.6 seconds left and assistant coach Jamie Carey drew up the play for Huggins and after a solid screen from Swan, she found herself open on the right side just in front of the CU bench and drained her second triple in the final minute of overtime with just 1.7 seconds left to force double overtime tied at 74-74.
"Coach Jamie (Carey) actually drew up that play," Lappe said. "She drew it up and told Lauren that she would knock it down. She did a great job of getting her feet set, Jamie set a great screen and we executed that play really well."
"Coach Lappe looked me in the eye and said 'this shot is for you and you're going to nail it,'" Huggins said. "I was a little nervous but I had my teammates behind me and we executed the play to go into that second overtime."
Kresl, who at the end of regulation, had 10 rebounds but not yet double figures in assists or points, had her 10th assist on that final triple from Huggins to enter double overtime with a double-double in assists and rebounds.
The Buffs continued the momentum and immediately took control in the second overtime, after Reese gathered an offensive rebound and hit a layup to put the Buffs up 76-74, Wharry immediately tied the game at 76-76 with both scores coming less than 30 seconds into the period.
Huggins remained hot, hitting her third 3-pointer in less than two minutes of game action to put the Buffs up for good at 79-76 with 3:47 left in the second OT. On the Buffs next possession, Kresl put the nail in the coffin with a 3-pointer, securing her triple-double and putting the Buffs up by six, 82-76 with 3:13 left.
"I'm pretty proud of the triple-double because it shows that I'm expanding my game," Kresl said. "It shows that I can help the team in other ways besides scoring."
The Rams would get no closer the remainder of the game as lay-ups from Swan and Smith countered two lay-ups from Victoria Wells and a Nystrom free throw to make it 86-81 with 53 seconds left. After a huge steal from Huggins followed by a big offensive rebound from Kresl, ironically her first of the game, she hit a free throw with 19 seconds left for the final margin, 87-81.
After three games in the past five days, the Buffs now have nearly a week off before hosting San Jose State next Friday at the Coors Events Center in an 11 a.m. tipoff. After that, the Buffs will immediately catch a flight to Iowa City for a match-up with Iowa on Sunday at 1 p.m.
